By 
STRABANE Athletic Club members enjoyed an excellent start to the indoor season with standout performances across several major competitions.
At the Dublin Open, Omagh woman Judith McGirr produced a superb run to set a new Women’s County Tyrone 400m record, clocking 64.6 seconds to finish second behind the reigning All-Ireland Champion.
Her performance marks a significant milestone and highlights her strong early-season form. Twin sister Leona Garrity also impressed on the day, running a season’s best to finish second in the 200m sprint, before going on to claim first place in the Masters 60m sprint.
In Belfast at the Athletics NI Indoor Open, Omagh’s Loughlan Bulling had a fantastic U17 competition, winning the Boys Long Jump with an impressive season-opening leap of 5.74m to set a new indoor personal best.
He added to his medal haul with a second-place finish in the High Jump.
Harvey King had a particularly busy and successful week, setting a new indoor long jump PB of 6.64m for silver in Belfast, before striking gold at the Loughborough Indoor Open in England. Acting as guide sprinter, Omagh’s Harvey teamed up with Freddie Wallace to win the 60m sprint, setting them up well ahead of their upcoming international competition in Dubai.
This is a hugely encouraging start to the indoor season for these Strabane AC athletes, all coached by international sprinter and coach Trev McGlynn, who marked a superb return to national competition by claiming the All-Ireland Masters Pentathlon title on Sunday at the National Indoor Arena in Dublin, proudly representing Strabane AC. After nearly two years away from the national stage due to injury, McGlynn showed his class and composure to come out on top in his first event back at this level.
Competing with intelligence and experience, Trev did exactly what was required, doing the bare minimum needed to stay just ahead of a strong field, conscious not to push too hard so early in his comeback. His winning score of 2300 points was some 800 points shy of his own national record, highlighting just how much potential remains. With fitness and confidence building, there is undoubtedly a lot more to come from Trev as the indoor season progresses.
